Metro News & Reviews

While talking CicLAvia, a nice video from Portland

The above video from the office of Portland Mayor Sam Adams was posted online a couple of years ago. But it’s so nicely done, featuring a couple of bold ideas on separating bikes and cars on Portland streets. I figured it would be fun to post now that we’re T-minus three days from the next CicLAvia.

The city of Los Angeles has a good bike blog through its Department of Transportation explaining how it’s trying to improve bike infrastructure in the city — the lead item today explains that 20 miles of L.A. streets were marked with sharrows to encourage cyclists and vehicles to share the roadway.

Of course, there are 88 cities in Los Angeles County and many — like L.A. — are pursuing serious cycling upgrades. It will be interesting to see how many of these ideas take hold here.

The bike video from Portland is a mixed message of old and older thinking about bike lane planning. In the animated segment for bike lane “version 2.0” a driver opens the door of his parked car right in front of the on-coming biclcle. The cyclist is shown using split second reflexes to swerve towards moving vehicles to avoid a serious collision. The bicyclist is heard cheerfully saying “No worries” to the motorist. “You XXXX MORON, you almost messed me up for the rest of my life” would have been a realistic and appropriate response. Bicycling will never begin to apprach European levels until bike paths are taken entirely away from where car doors open. An animation of a bicyclist colliding at 20 mph with an open car door and the related injuries would have a far more effective public safety impact than this video provides.